Scythe
Scythe is an ancient Hero counted among the oldest and most powerful beings in Albion. History Scythe is introduced as a figure of legend among even the Heroes' Guild, a Hero utterly obsessed with cheating death. Jack of Blades is often considered the only one who has "seen and done more". Scythe walked the earth long before the guild was created, and even the Oracle of Snowspire is unsure of many things that he has done. He is a withered shell of a man, resembling a tall, mummified corpse. One common theory regarding Scythe's true identity is that he is most likely William Black, the first Archon of the Old Kingdom. This is suggested in descriptions of the Archon vanishing while wearing golden mail and a blue robe, the same clothing that Scythe is dressed in at the time of Fable: The Lost Chapters. This theory is additionally supported in Fable: The Journey, in which Theresa details the story of William Black to Gabriel while traveling in Miremoor. After describing William Black's journey into The Void to cast off the Corruption that afflicted him during his first voyage to the Void, she claims that William Black disappeared, never seen again in a form that would be recognizable to the denizens of the Old Kingdom. If one studies the history of Albion, they first hear the figure referred to as Scythe mentioned after the fall of the Old Kingdom in the grip of Albion's anarchist period, known as the Fallow Wars. These histories mention Scythe serving as the mentor of the bandit-turned-Hero Nostro, who, under Scythe's guidance, created the Heroes' Guild in order to put an end to the violence that cursed Albion's people and unite the land under a single banner once more. Scythe, who had hoped that Nostro could bring Albion together for the first time since the days of the Old Kingdom, watched his dreams be dashed with the appearance of Magdalena, a power-hungry courtesan who became Nostro's wife. Through her influence, the Heroes' Guild became a degenerate house of greedy mercenaries and Nostro's influence waned. Scythe, refusing to aid his former pupil after bearing witness to his fall, nevertheless forgave him and stood vigil at his side after he was poisoned by an assassin, staying with him until he died at the first light of the sun. With Nostro's death, Scythe disappeared into obscurity once more. ''Fable: The Lost Chapters'' Scythe makes a brief appearance in the original Fable ''story as a Hero of legend who can be found in conversation with Maze if the Hero of Oakvale explores the grounds of the Heroes' Guild. His appearance in the original game is relatively insignificant, however, as he soon disappears into the distant Northern Wastes. Like fellow Hero Briar Rose, Scythe's role is greatly expanded upon in the continued story of ''Fable: The Lost Chapters. A year after the Hero of Oakvale slew Jack of Blades, Scythe desperately called upon the Heroes' Guild to send its greatest champion to aid him in that frozen land in his efforts against a newly risen evil of great power. Once the Hero of Oakvale claims the Fire Heart and takes the Ship of the Drowned across the icy waters, he meets with Scythe, who briefs him on the situation in the north. He explains that he destroyed his Guild Seal to ensure that this great evil could not reach the Heroes' Guild, which greatly limited his communication with that organization, and that to plan his next move, the two Heroes would have to retrieve the glyphs that activate the Snowspire Oracle. Once the Hero ventures into the Necropolis and retrieves the glyphs, Scythe activates the ancient Oracle and learns that the resurgent evil is none other than Jack of Blades reborn. With this revelation, Scythe advises the Hero of Oakvale on how to confront Jack of Blades by opening the Bronze Gate, which can only be done by gathering souls of a certain criteria. Once the Hero defeats Jack of Blades, Scythe contacts him once more, urging him to destroy the mask in order to finally banish Jack of Blades' soul. It is up to the Hero if they follow his advice or not. ''Fable Heroes'' Scythe appears as a playable character in the Xbox LIVE Arcade title, Fable Heroes. He is available for purchase by Hammer on the Hero Tile of the Abilities Board. Trivia *You may meet Scythe briefly in the Guild talking to Maze. But if you are forced to go to meet with Maze for attacking someone, Scythe will be gone. *If the Hero attacks Scythe, he replies with: "Your attacks are too weak." "No mortal weapons can harm me..." "Don't you have better things to do but attack me?". *He is one of the few named Heroes in the entire game who can not be killed through evil choices (Twinblade, Whisper, Theresa, Thunder, Briar Rose, the Guildmaster and the Hero of Oakvale himself) or killed in the course of the story (Maze, Scarlet Robe and Nostro). *In TLC when you must collect the soul of 'The Oldest' nobody hints at the fact that Scythe is actually older than both Nostro and Weaver, maybe this is because they know it would be futile to even attempt to harm him, or Lionhead may not have added him as an option to kill because, if he is William Black, that means he had already given his soul to the Sword of Aeons in exchange for its help in destroying The Court. *In Fable II, it states Scythe is believed by the populace of Albion to be a Necromancer, and that he had disappeared from Albion entirely. Though it offers no insight to exactly when he disappeared, it can only be assumed he disappeared sometime between the ending events in TLC to the destruction of the Heroes Guild. *Scythe is the only named practitioner of the Necromantic arts, although there is supposedly a small cult of "Immortalists" that uses Scythe as inspiration. Necromancy is not otherwise mentioned in the game, and the "Raise Dead" spell is never referred to as being related to Necromancy. *It has been confirmed that Scythe is the 'hooded figure' mentioned in the Letter from Rose.http://lionhead.com/forums/t/285483.aspx?PageIndex=1 **This adds credibility to the idea that Scythe could be William Black, as Rose states in her letter that he says he knows our family'. ''Meaning either that as an Archon of the Old Kingdom he is of the same bloodline and so an ancestor of Rose and the Hero of Bowerstone, or referencing the fact that Scythe knew the Hero of Oakvale. **She also writes "I think he's a king or something", a reference to his reign as Archon. *In TLC, when the Oracle is recounting the story of the Archon, it says "But the first Archon still casts his shadow in this world." Taken literally, this could further imply that Scythe is William Black. *In the Launch Day Weapons and Outfits Pack DLC for Fable Anniversary, the Snowspire Charity Shop gets 'Scythe's Outfit'. It's not known if this is Game Canon, but the Boots in the outfit reads "''How many pairs of shoes can an Archon go through in their lifetime? Going by the smell of these, not many!" '' *The in-game source claiming that the Archons were immortal and that Scythe was one of them is a book called Living Forever: The Immortalists. *In Fable III, Scythe is mentioned several times, through the weapon Scythe's Warhammer and the Scythe tattoo set. The description of Scythe's Warhammer also states: "''It is foretold that one day Scythe will return to Albion. When he does, he might want his hammer back. Just a heads-up." *Scythe is said to be the mightiest and oldest Hero since William Black, but Scythe was never seen in a fight (possibly because he defends Snowspire Village) and never been seen equipped with his scythe even though his concept art and his doll does. *Ironically, even though Maze seems to be an associate of Scythe's and also admits to a strong desire to avoid death, Maze was completely unable to cheat death himself. This could be due to the fact that Scythe was not originally included in Fable and appeared only in Fable: TLC and was possibly an afterthought intended only for the expansion, or possibly because Scythe was suspicious of Maze's motives and may have refused to teach him. Scythe mentions that his name has been "long since forgotten in the Guild", and that this is because of Maze. Gallery S.jpg|Scythe in-game Scythe 01 Ingamefinal.png|Scythe in high definition, from Fable Anniversary Scythe.jpg|Scythe's Hero Doll pl:Kosa Category:Fable TLC Characters